TiVo Launches Android App

TiVo has released an Android version of its smartphone and tablet app for the company's line of DVRs.

TiVo has just launched a new Android version of its DVR-controlling app.

The TiVo App for Android joins the TiVo App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch in letting users manage their TiVo devices from their mobile devices.

The app includes channel and episode guide support, record and season pass functions, and emulates a TiVo remote down to the button layout and like/dislike buttons. It doesn't allow live or recorded TV watching from a mobile device, but the controls add a lot of flexibility to TiVo users who aren't in front of their boxes. The app is compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, including the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Despite facing competition from cable and satellite companies' DVRs, TiVo continues to offer a premium subscription-based DVR service using its own technology. The TiVo Premiere and Premiere Elite are the company's latest models of DVR, and TiVo's interface has been used in Insignia newest Internet HDTVs, but without DVR features.

Earlier this week, TiVo announced that it will receive at least $215 million in payments plus licensing fees from AT&T. The agreement, which includes an undisclosed cross licensing agreement of the respective patent portfolios in the television field, will provide TiVo with additional funding through 2018.

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for more than six years, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. Since graduating from Syracuse University in 2005, Will has been an active technology journalist both online and in print. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PCMag.com labs, focusing on Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and other home theater equipment.
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